Louisa didn’t understand. Ted Kauffmann? When had Cody spoken with Ted Kauffmann? And why hadn’t he told her?

“I had a problem,” her father said. “An addiction.”

Now Louisa’s mom was standing, and there was anger on her face. She’d braced herself—they both had—for the confession of an affair. This was something else entirely, something none of them had foreseen.

“I told myself, ‘No risk, no reward.’” Her father sighed. “But then I made some really big mistakes.”

Louisa tried to find sympathy for him, but none came.

“I convinced Maggie to give me a lot of money. I convinced her I was going to make her rich. She never cared about money, but she said she’d love to start a charity for kids or something someday, so she wrote me a check.”

“And you gambled it away?” Louisa couldn’t keep the disgust out of her voice.

Her father didn’t look at her. “And then some.”

“So you went to Dad for help,” Cody said.

“He found out about it,” her father said. “He said he’d bail me out under two conditions—that I got help for my problem and turned Maggie’s accounts over to someone else.”

Louisa looked at Cody, her mind spinning back to the paperwork they’d found among Maggie’s things. Daniel had made sure the old woman was taken care of. He’d even made sure that Louisa’s family was taken care of. Again, he’d made a huge sacrifice—one none of them deserved.

“You need to know, Daniel had a plan for recouping the investment,” her father continued. “He would’ve had one lean month—maybe two—and I had a plan to pay him back.”

“But you didn’t pay him back,” Marissa said. “And we had to start over from scratch.”

Louisa watched as her father slowly shook his head. “When he died, I did turn my life around. But it took some time. And by the time I had the money, I don’t know—I guess it was easier to pretend none of it ever happened.”

Marissa scoffed. “So were you relieved when my husband died?”

He took a step toward her. “Danny was my closest friend. He saved my life. He sacrificed to save me, and I owe him everything. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from his death. But I’ve been such a coward, Marissa.” He looked at Cody. “I know I don’t deserve it, but I hope you can forgive me. Someday.” He paused. “And of course, I’ll pay back every cent.”

Marissa methodically bent over and picked up her purse. She slung it over her shoulder, then walked right up to Louisa’s dad and smacked him across the face.

“You are a terrible man,” she said. “As long as I live, I will never forgive you for what you’ve done.”